Motorcycle Licensing, Laws & Costs by State
The card expires in twelve months This is the fact to plan around, and it is stated in one line on the program’s own FAQ and almost nowhere else. Completing the North Carolina Motorcycle Safety Education Program course does not give you a motorcycle license. What it gives you is a DMV waiver card that … Read more
The permit is optional, and almost nobody knows it Start here, because it changes the plan. In North Carolina the motorcycle learner permit exists so you can practice legally before you are endorsed. The NCDMV’s own page says it plainly: the permit “allows you to practice riding before obtaining a full endorsement, but it not … Read more
Age alone does not exempt you The version of this law that circulates is “no helmet needed at 21 in Pennsylvania”. That is not what the law says, and riding on it can leave you in breach. PennDOT’s own wording: any person who operates or rides a motorcycle, including an autocycle, must wear protective headgear … Read more
The headline: the training is free Most states leave rider training to private schools and let them price it. Pennsylvania does not. The Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program offers free rider training courses to Pennsylvania residents holding a motorcycle learner’s permit or a Class M license, provides the motorcycle and the helmet for the beginner course, … Read more
No — but not the way the other states say no Lane splitting is illegal in New Jersey, and so is filtering past stopped traffic. That much is settled and the state’s own driver manual says so. What makes New Jersey worth a page of its own is the mechanism. Most states that prohibit this … Read more
Two routes, and the difference costs you a year New Jersey splits motorcycle licensing in a way that most states do not, and the split decides how long the whole thing takes. If you already hold a New Jersey driver license, you are adding a motorcycle endorsement to it. If you do not hold one, … Read more
No — and what Colorado legalized is not quite what people describe Lane splitting is illegal in Colorado and always has been. What changed in 2024 is narrower and stranger than the coverage suggests, and it comes with an expiry date. Senate Bill 24-079 was approved by the Governor on 4 April 2024 and took … Read more
You need a Colorado driver license first Colorado does not issue a standalone motorcycle license. In the DMV’s own words, “you must possess a valid Colorado driver license to apply for or add a motorcycle endorsement.” The motorcycle privilege is an endorsement on the card you already hold. There are two of them. An M … Read more
In Washington, the school is the examiner This is the fact that reframes the whole question, and it is easy to miss because no training provider states it plainly on their sales page. Washington requires four official examinations for a 2-wheel endorsement: a 50-question permit knowledge test, a permit riding skills test, a 25-question endorsement … Read more
No, and the wording is unusually blunt Washington prohibits it in a single sentence. RCW 46.61.608: “No person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.” There is no exception for stopped traffic, no speed threshold and no carve-out of the kind Utah, Montana, Arizona, Colorado and … Read more